Putting off until tomorrow what is better done today: Academic procrastination as a function of motivation toward college work

We examined the relative impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation towar d academic work, as well as personality variables such as fear of failure, perfectionism, and locus of control, on academic procrastination in college students (N = 96). In addition, we compared attribution styles of students who reported high levels of academic procrastination with those who do not . Results revealed that low extrinsic motivation, coupled with perfectionis m (for women in particular) and both an external locus of control and attri butional style, contributed to the tendency to delay school tasks. Low acad emic procrastinators were more motivated by both internal and external forc es than were high academic procrastinators and found academic tasks to be l ess aversive in general. Moreover, high academic procrastinators made exter nal attributions (to context and luck) for their successes, acknowledging t hat they do little to contribute toward their academic achievements when th ese do occur. These findings suggest that both salient motivators and stabl e personality factors contribute to academic procrastination.